LOWELL -- A dozen people were displaced from a triple-decker with a dark history on Dane Street in Lowell Tuesday afternoon when a two-alarm fire burned from the second floor to an attic space before firefighters put the flames out.

Crews were called to 25 Dane St., in the Acre, about 3:30 p.m., and found a fire that started in a second-floor apartment, according to Deputy Chief Patrick McCabe.

McCabe said he feared the fire would burn the building's roof off since it got into a crawlspace, but that the crew of Ladder 3 was able to vent holes in the roof, allowing heat and flames to escape, and then got water on the flames, which stopped the fire.

It was "textbook" work and a good example of why firefighters vent fires, according to McCabe.

Melissa Hagdock, who lives on the third floor with her husband, William McKee, said she was in the shower when she smelled smoke and heard someone yelling to get out of the building. She escaped unharmed.

Glenda Rivera lives on the other side of the third floor and had to get out of the building before she could find her Chihuahuas, Malla and Scooby.

Firefighters located both dogs and got them out of the building safely. They were staying at the Lowell Humane Society last night while Rivera and other residents were provided hotel rooms by the American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts.

The building is where Riley Matyczynski, 5, fell to his death after pushing a screen out of a third-floor window on Sept. 2, 2009.

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Police described the incident as a tragic accident.

Residents said the building's owner, Joseph Labate, recently moved into the building since another home he owns, at 342 Pawtucket St., was damaged in a two-alarm fire on March 2. That fire left 13 people homeless.

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